The present invention relates to a connector which houses terminal fittings.
A conventional electrical connector has a female connector housing having a plurality of cavities, and female terminal fittings which have electric wires fixed thereto are housed in the cavities. In this type of connector, and particularly in multiple connectors, a conducting probe needs to make contact with each female terminal fitting in order to check whether the female terminal fittings have been housed in the correct cavity. An example of this conductivity test using probes is described in JP 11-45761.
The method of bringing the conducting probe into contact with the female terminal fitting in the conventional case is shown in FIG. 9 of this specification. A probe 4 is inserted in a straight line into a female terminal fitting 1 from an insertion hole 2 that is used for inserting a tab of a corresponding male terminal fitting. The probe 4 makes contact with a contacting member 3 which in use makes resilient contact with the tab.
The probe 4 is inserted and removed via a levering operation using a checking jig or the like, and the inserting stroke and inserting position of the probe 4 are fixed. However, if for some reason the probe 4 is inserted too deeply or in an inclined state, the contacting member 3 may be bent excessively, causing problems such as set-in fatigue.
The present invention has taken the above problem into account, and aims to present a connector wherein damage to the terminal fittings is prevented when their conductivity is checked.
According to the invention there is provided an electrical connector comprising a housing having a plurality of cavities formed therein in a fitting direction, and a plurality of electrical terminals inserted in respective cavities, characterized in that an opening is formed in the side wall of each cavity adjacent a respective terminal, the openings being adapted to receive a probe for checking conductivity of a respective terminal.
Preferably the cavities are open to a front face of the housing and permit insertion of a probe at an angle to the fitting direction. In a preferred embodiment, the openings comprise a slot at one end of each cavity.
The connector may include a retainer fitted from the front face thereof to doubly retain the terminals, the retainer including apertures aligned with the respective openings in the fitted condition. These apertures may have an angled wall to guide a probe into a respective opening.
The terminals preferably have a box-like external shape to better resist the contact force exerted by a probe.